Quick Update

Hi all,

Another wonderful day.  We changed our plans a bit and instead of biking today, we hiked in Sky Meadows State Park.  An overcast morning opened up to a beautiful sunny fall afternoon.  I took some great pix, but forgot to pack my download cord.  We're enjoying a very nice B&B in Leesburg and tomorrow morning Sharon and I will bike on the W&OD (Washington and Old Dominion) bike trail back towards home (~30 miles).  DH, still sporting a whole arm cast will drive home and meet us at trail's end (or earlier if we call him).

I did not go to my WI today as we were running late AND I didn't get in my last chance run.  I thought about going to the meeting here tomorrow, but it's after our B&B breakfast.  I don't want to hop on the scale right after breakfast AND we want to get a relatively early start.  I think I'll just skip this week.  I can't share any new pix, but I'll leave you with today's physicsdiet chart--showing lots of green.

Happy trails to YOU, too.

The day before WI

Hi all!   I got my trip to the gym in early today and managed to add a bit to my usual routine of lifting.  Later I met Sharon & Mr. B and we stopped for lunch at a great little Italian bistro place in Alexandria before heading into DC.

We took a behind the scenes tour at the National Cathedral.  Then we drove to Arlington National Cemetery.  Here are some pix:

View from the South Crossing

Not a gargoyle (no gutter pipe) but a "grotesque."

Unbelievably beautiful fall leaves.

View from JFK's eternal flame back toward Washington

Me, beside my sweet mother's grave.  She would have been 90 yesterday.

We're eating so well--healthy, nutritious, and OP.  Tonight we had Tilapia, broccoli, & roasted butternut squash.  After dinner--Wii time!  Sharon and Mr. B were newbies to the Wii and we had a great time and laughed a lot while playing with the Wii fit and some of the basic sport games.  I think we may have gotten Mr. B hooked!  

Tomorrow we're off on our mini bike holiday.  Lots of biking.  I plan to go to my WI on the way out to our bike holiday headquarters.  Off to bed now so I can get in my Last Chance Run before the WI.  

Bye for now.

Perfect 10

As If 

Mr. B and Sharon

What a great day!  Biked to Mount Vernon with Sharon and Mr. B today.  Perfect weather, perfect company, perfect route, and perfect destination.   Our ride was about 16 miles round trip, including lots of hills. We parked the bikes and toured Mount Vernon when we got there.  Here's a picture taken along the Potomac River on our way. Nice snacks of almonds and dried apricots and plenty of water.  We toured the house, explored many of the trails on the grounds, and went through the new Education center.  One of the highlights was the film of Washington's military career that included a couple snowfalls on the audience.  We also enjoyed the long DOWNhill parts on the ride home!







Thanks to my daughter, Laura, I've found a new weight loss tool that is really fun and quite interesting.  Laura has lost about 20 pounds in the past couple of months by using this site:  caloriecount.com 
You enter a bit about yourself (weight, height, age) and then enter your food and exercise each day and it analyses your nutrition.  I really like seeing how well I'm doing on filling my nutritional needs.  I do take a daily vitamin, but I'm interested in filling those needs with things that I eat.  Here are a few of the charts it had for me after I entered today's food.

Check it out!

Fabulous Friday, Hot 100 Update

Hello loyal readers.  I've been bad about posting this week and am woefully behind on reading (I MISS you guys!), but all is well and I hope to get back to my regular blog routine.  Thanks for sticking with me.

Sharon and I rocked it today with diet and exercise.  We went to 75 minutes of Praise Moves (yoga) this morning and enjoyed a perfect fall hike this afternoon at Mason Neck State Park.  Mid 60s, sunshine, a light breeze, leaves painted in fall colors and good company--what more can you ask for.

Orange Dream

Our meals have been spot-on perfect.  It's like having your conscience personified keeping you company all day--in a very good way. Maybe like Oprah's food and exercise coach who was with her throughout the day. Dinner tonight was baked chicken with lemon-soy sauce, brown rice, roasted butternut squash and roasted green beans.  For dessert we had this:
Orange Dream
Combine 1 large container of plain, fat free yogurt with 1 large container sugarless jello (orange is my favorite).  Nuke on "high" for two minutes in the microwave. Stir well. Pour into four parfait glass and layer with fat free cool whip as desired. Garnish with mandarin orange slices and sliced, toasted almonds.   YUM!

Mr. B (Sharon's husband) arrived this evening.  Tomorrow morning we're all going to bike to Mount Vernon (except for DH, still hostage to his full arm cast, who will meet us there to tour the plantation).

Hot 100 Update--Week Three


My goals:

1. Reach my goal weight by Jan 1st by following the WW CORE plan, weigh & record my weight each morning, attend weekly WW meetings.
2. Exercise at least 6 out of 7 days with varied exercise including at least 2 strength workouts and 3 cardio workouts each week averaging 60 minutes per session.
3. Keep my house and my body chocolate free.  This includes dark chocolate, chocolate chips, chocolate candy bars and any baked goods that have chocolate in them.

How I did:

1. I lost .4 pounds at this week's WI so I have 15.6 pounds to lose by New Year's to reach my goal.  I'm hoping that I'm finally getting over the plateau and will still be able to reach the goal. 
2. Done.  I exercised 6 out of 7, ran 4 times and did 3 cardio workouts.
3. YES.  There was a near disaster this morning when I saw a solitary chocolate chip that was on my kitchen counter.  It managed to rouse all my chocolate cravings.  Fortunately, on closer inspection, I discovered that the chocolate chip was actually a half coffee bean that had escaped from the grinding process earlier in the morning. 

Wordless Thursday (!), WI

Sharon (Gains and Losses Life Through Sharons Eyes)  is here!!! We'll both post tomorrow, I promise.

Yes, Green is Good!

WI today.  Down 2 sticks o' butter.

178.6

Weekend Recap

With DH in front of a corn field.

E with Rudolph and Daddy
The pink tutu is E's, not Daddy's!

We're BACK!  We had a great weekend. We left Saturday morning and went to a wonderful rural farm called Butler's Orchards in Maryland.  Our youngest granddaughter, E, was celebrating her third birthday and we all met there to enjoy a Pumpkin festival.  We had a great time.  Hayrides, a pumpkin patch, a huge Cinderella pumpkin carriage, giant slides, ponies, large shallow bins of dried corn, and a moon bounce area. We had a lot of fun.  No kids besides E & little brother J, but parents and a full complement of grandparents, an aunt, and a grown cousin.  We had birthday cake in the grass by a corn field.  I passed on the cake, but had brought 4 large cans of mandarin orange pieces (which I know E adores) and everyone wanted some.  I also had some ff cottage cheese, but no one else opted for that--guess they were full of cake or something!

DH, Jay and me with Aunt Bettie

After the party we kept on going out to Nellysford, near Charlottesville to spend a couple days with my aunt.  She's my mother's only sibling and one of my favorite people to spend time with.  You'd never guess she was 88.  I always thought I was adopted because I don't particularly look like either one of my parents, but whenever I've spent time with her, people assume that I'm her daughter.  I'd love to think I'll look like her when I'm 88!  Interestingly enough, though she was never obese, she did lose 25 pounds (with Weight Watchers) when she was in her late 40s and has kept within a few pounds of her goal weight for 40 some years.  She was very interested in my eating plan and diet strategies because she complained that those few pounds were all settled around her waist and she wants to get rid of them.

Meals went fine.  I said I'd bring makings and cook dinner the first night we were there.  I put the ingredients for my go-to stir fry in our cooler and so that was dinner. She offered ice cream for dessert (which pleased Jay no end!) but I opted for a wonderful Bartlett pear.  I also took my ff cottage cheese and mandarin oranges for lunches, and a box of my shredded wheat for breakfasts.  Dinner the second night was a pork roast, a squash casserole, sweet potatoes, and a turnip slaw.  There was a bit of margarine in the casserole and some bacon cooked over the roast, but I ate reasonable portions and avoided things I don't eat.  I offered to make a green salad with my olive oil vinaigrette and had that instead of the slaw (mayo & sugar).

I went running in her beautiful neighborhood just before sunset the first night--views of the mountains and valleys with a definite touch of fall color.   I took a bye on exercise yesterday.  I went for a long run when we got back this afternoon.  I'm still good for 6 out of 7.  The scale was telling me good things when I was there, and that helped me stay on track.

I don't have any babysitting duties this week because Johnny and his family are going on a small vacation.  I'll be busy, though, because we're expecting company later on in the week.  This is the week I get to meet one of YOU!   Two points if you've put two and two together and can name that blogger!  I feel you can definitely expect two very on track bloggers over the next 10 days or so--sort of like camp--lots of exercise (hiking, a mini bike holiday, Praise moves, and maybe some Wii tennis and kettlebells), good OP eating, and lots of positive reinforcement!

Okay,  I'm off to tackle some laundry . . .

Happy Weekend

I've got my running shoes, my pillow, my journal and my scale packed.  We're off for a weekend getaway.  No WiFi or even Internet.  Yikes!  I may have withdrawal symptoms by the time we return on Monday.  Be good, have a great weekend--I know I will.